Vibrations at highway speed, Stock

[DivineStrike]

Hello all, been a while since I made a thread. My car has about 50k on it and I’ve noticed a vibration at highway speeds. Now the first and obvious culprit is likely my tires which have near 30k on them (Bridgestone Re11s)

I’ll be replacing them soon but would like to brainstorm some other culprits just in case, maybe some bushings, bearings, or rods to replace since she’s not brand new anymore?

Car is stock minus a catback and dealer installed exedy clutch and lightened steel flywheel. Lots of mods will be happening after November when the warranty is up haha. Suspension will be done before then. Deciding between Ohlin r&t and bmr handling + FR shocks and struts. Also still need to install my cb005 they’ve been sitting for a couple years.

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[Dfeeds]

Depends on where you feel the vibration. If it's from the steering wheel then your wheels being out of balance are the most likely culprit. If your tires are shot then a belt could be slipping. Ball joints usually have a good clunk that go with them, when bad. You can also check to see if your rotors are wearing evenly, but that usually would have some chirping at low speeds. Loose tie rod ends and wheel bearings are something else to consider, but it's hard to pinpoint anything down with just "vibration at highway speeds" for details.

Get your tires replaced as planned, a wheel balancing comes standard with those. Hold off on the tie rods, ball joints, and allignment, unless absolutely necessary, until you do your suspension. Otherwise you'll just be doubling up on expenses. That would be my advice.

 

[DivineStrike]

Depends on where you feel the vibration. If it's from the steering wheel then your wheels being out of balance are the most likely culprit. If your tires are shot then a belt could be slipping. Ball joints usually have a good clunk that go with them, when bad. You can also check to see if your rotors are wearing evenly, but that usually would have some chirping at low speeds. Loose tie rod ends and wheel bearings are something else to consider, but it's hard to pinpoint anything down with just "vibration at highway speeds" for details.

Get your tires replaced as planned, a wheel balancing comes standard with those. Hold off on the tie rods, ball joints, and allignment, unless absolutely necessary, until you do your suspension. Otherwise you'll just be doubling up on expenses. That would be my advice.

Thanks for the feedback. Yea pretty sure it’s mostly in the steering wheel...maybe I can feel it elsewhere and vibration remains the same if push the clutch in, so definitely in the suspension or possibly but unlikely the driveshaft if it’s driveline related

And yea I’m basically trying to push the tires out until I get suspension done

 

[Shifting_Gears]

Did you hit any curbs or potholes? Could have a damaged wheel as well throwing things off.

 

[GT Pony]

After driving the car awhile so the tires are warmed up and aren't flat spotted, jack the front end up and spin the tires. Use a block of wood or something to put up near the tread of the tire to use to look for wheel runout. Can do the same for the rear tires. I found a bad tire on another car of mine doing that simple test. If the rim is bent you should be able to see it too.

 

[Deleted member 35786]

There is a huge thread on vibration from 50 - 70mph. A simple search should bring it up. Might want to have a look and see what they say. Good luck.

 

[DivineStrike]

There is a huge thread on vibration from 50 - 70mph. A simple search should bring it up. Might want to have a look and see what they say. Good luck.

Yea sorry but when searching the words were too short or common but good job being a smartass like I didn’t already try that, I have been a part of the forums a bit longer than you have and know how they function

But thank you for bringing up the thread I’ll look at it... my vibrations seem to happen or are more noticeable closer to 80mph

 

[Cobra Jet]

With your accrued mileage, my guess would be a hub bearing is failing. Sure, it can be tires, but hub bearing failures are common on the S550. Some members on this site have had hub bearing failures as low as 3k mi. and others around the 12k-20k mark, etc. Some have even said they have had same hub bearing replaced at least 2x and at most 3x under warranty.

If it’s not the tires (worn or needing a rebalance), and it’s not any of the hub bearings, then check:

1) Driveshaft center support bearing
2) Driveshaft u-joints
3) Rear axle retaining nuts (large thread in suspension sub-forum about loose axle nuts)
4) Rear axle cv joint failure
5) Rear differential issue (ie: pinion bearing failure, metal in gear oil, excess backlash, abnormal ring/pinion gear wear, etc)
6) Warped brake rotors

Good luck and be sure to report back the findings!

 

[DivineStrike]

With your accrued mileage, my guess would be a hub bearing is failing. Sure, it can be tires, but hub bearing failures are common on the S550. Some members on this site have had hub bearing failures as low as 3k mi. and others around the 12k-20k mark, etc. Some have even said they have had same hub bearing replaced at least 2x and at most 3x under warranty.

If it’s not the tires (worn or needing a rebalance), and it’s not any of the hub bearings, then check:

1) Driveshaft center support bearing
2) Driveshaft u-joints
3) Rear axle retaining nuts (large thread in suspension sub-forum about loose axle nuts)
4) Rear axle cv joint failure
5) Rear differential issue (ie: pinion bearing failure, metal in gear oil, excess backlash, abnormal ring/pinion gear wear, etc)
6) Warped brake rotors

Good luck and be sure to report back the findings!

Thank you very much, I’ll have to give it a run into the dealer here soon, will do it before suspension and tires that way they can’t try and blame that. I’ve had a rear wheel hub replaced under warranty already

I’ve got some two piece rotors I’ve been waiting to put on for a while so I’ll likely do that soon too

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